Kentucky Derby Race

What: The most excit­ing two min­utes in sport, the Ken­tucky Der­by race is the pin­na­cle in com­pet­i­tive horse rac­ing and see’s twen­ty of the best hors­es mount­ed by the world’s best jock­eys com­pete across 10 fur­longs of the famous Churchill Downs race­course to be crowned not just the Ken­tucky Der­by cham­pi­on but also take home near­ly $3 mil­lion in prize mon­ey.

Also known as the ‘run for the ros­es’ – owing to the blan­ket of ros­es that are draped over the win­ning horse, the race is also full of tra­di­tion with the pre-race tra­di­tions includ­ing the drink­ing of mint julep (a strange com­bi­na­tion of bour­bon, mint and sug­ary syrup), the strict and lav­ish dress code for ladies, and the start of the rac­ing fea­tur­ing the call of ‘Rid­ers Up’ and the sign­ing of the Ken­tucky anthem ‘My Ken­tucky home’ – as in front of some 80,000 spec­ta­tors crammed into the in-field watch­ing area, and the celebri­ties and high-soci­ety atten­dees watch­ing on from the famed ‘mil­lion­aires row’ hors­es com­pete to take home the tro­phy from America’s most famous horse race.

When The Ken­tucky Der­by takes place on the first Sat­ur­day in May and bring to con­clu­sion the two-week Ken­tucky der­by fes­ti­val. For the race itself, the build-up begins at 6pm, with the race start­ing at 7pm.

Where:  The Ken­tucky Der­by takes place on the race­course of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ken­tucky in the Unit­ed States.

Dura­tion: The day of the Ken­tucky der­by begins with 7 pre-lim­i­nary races begin­ning at 11am and last­ing until 2:30 pm. With a fur­ther 6 main card races then tak­ing place between 3pm and 6pm – before the main event of the Ken­tucky Der­by begins – with the build-up and dis­play of the hors­es tak­ing place at 6pm, rid­ers being called up to the start­ing lane and the sign­ing of the ‘My Ken­tucky home’ tak­ing place at 6:45pm, before the 2 minute race begins at 7pm – with cel­e­bra­tions going on until the ear­ly hours.

Tick­ets: Tick­ets for the Ken­tucky Der­by are tiered – with the Gen­er­al admis­sion into the infield (stand­ing area) start­ing at $40, with these tick­ets not sell­ing out and hav­ing no capac­i­ty and avail­able to pur­chase both in advance from [https://www.kentuckyderby.com/tickets] and on the day of the race, although depend­ing on your height and the time you arrive views can be lim­it­ed – as some 80,000 peo­ple tend to pack the infield sec­tion on race day.

For a more pris­tine view and expe­ri­ence, there are a range of seats and box­es avail­able for both the day of the race and the 2 days of the fes­ti­val – which start at $400 and include the famous ‘millionaire’s row’ sec­tion of seats – often occu­pied by high soci­ety atten­dees. Tick­ets are again avail­able at [https://www.kentuckyderby.com/tickets] for seats and go on sale in ear­ly Novem­ber for the race in March – with pre-reg­is­tra­tion on the web­site rec­om­mend­ed to improve your odds of get­ting a seat.

Need to Know: If attend­ing at the in-field, it’s advised to get there at the start of the race day to get a good spot for the Ken­tucky der­by – and be sure to only bring the bare essen­tials with you as bag search­es and checks are in place.

More Infor­ma­tion:  For more infor­ma­tion on the hors­es run­ning, how to reach Churchill downs and to reg­is­ter and then pur­chase tick­ets in advance vis­it the offi­cial Ken­tucky Der­by web­site at: [https://www.kentuckyderby.com/]